As we entered the third week of 2017, a sudden foretold weather that Vung Tau will be drenched in tropical rain; it is not a storm however, but raining non-stop for 6–8 hours. But today, none of that happened and we welcomed 26 Hashers that arrived at Hon Ru Ri on time; then we picked up Terminator’s family (5+1) on the way and 2 visitors from Saigon Hash plus their kid waiting at Minh Dam welcome gate making a total of 35 (the SH3 visitors were in the area so joined us for the run but couldn’t stay for the Circle).Then SamSon go up the mountain with the bus to set the trail while Basil lead the group to the base of the mountain and start his chalk-talk. The trail starts at the step of stairs and walk up to the cement road, once Hasher coming out the jungle on the cement road, we turn right and go up to the car park then we go up all the way to the top where the nun/monks houses are, then took some photo and headed down to the car park again for the Down Down once they finish.Then “On-On” to the stairs as Basil led the way with Junior Hasher Messi coming along. All the rain has made the trees and grass grow and made the stairs a little difficult to walk through, but nothing stop Hashers to face this challenge.Once we coming out the jungle, we can breathe easy and walk our own pace to save energy for another mountain walking. But as soon as we reach the car park, we realize the trail mark by SamSon turn to another trail; so instead of walking to the nun/monks houses, we walked to the Historical Museum trail which also has a good view.It was clearly a misunderstanding between SamSon and Basil, but for safety, we all follow SamSon’s trail as now the rain has started but not so heavy. We walk past the museum and to the historical site, where some Hashers spot a monkey and decided to take some photos. Then we all follow the renovated road to the flag pole of the historical site (see photo) with all beautiful views (more photos).Then when we headed down, the Live Hare SamSon set another way to go through the temple and finally back down to the carpark where our sponsor San Miguel’s products were nicely chilled. At this time, we must say goodbye to our visitors from Saigon Hash, but we all kept the beautiful moment in our hearts and in our cameras.After some Russian food and vodka provided by Mother Teresa, we were surprised to find out that last week was Terminator’s birthday so we all congrats him with vodka.When it is time for our group photo, we quickly took so many with different cameras by many Hashers. It is time SamSon don the chain of office and started the Circle. After a welcome message we welcome the Hares Basil and SamSon in the Circle and our visitor Dirtimak from Bali Hash 2 in the Circle to rate the trail. “A nice family friendly Hash that he felt welcome and different than other Hashes; the trail went to the mountains which have many history and stories that are fantastic,” he wish to give it full marks but give 8/10 because one Hasher that he wished to exchange phone numbers with didn’t give him her number!Then we welcomed Hash Virgins Ms Ha and Mr Kien, introduced by Ms Kieu Anh and one is her friend while the other is her classmate (Basil posted the Hash flyer to introduce English learning students to both learning and exercising). Hash welcome song performed both by SamSon and Basil.Then welcome back Returnees, Suction Cup with excuse of “helping her daughter”, Big Bird “travel to Tay Ninh”, Tiny Tim and Peach Melba for “working” and Junior Hashers Messi and Ronaldo “study for the exam”.We then welcomed Visitor Dirtimak, dressed in Scottish style and Scotland Flag as a cape, to Circle to introduce himself, he is from Bali Hash 2; why, because Bali has two Hash, there is a reason which he couldn’t tell with family friendly Hash but ask Hashers to support Bali Hash 2 when they visit Bali for event runs. He also tells one joke as a present to the wonderful Vung Tau Hashers.First Sinner was Dirtimak for inappropriate footwear; he also nominated Rita for lying to him that today is her first Hash; and Messi nominated Skipper and Flying Finn for going the wrong way, so Down Down for them all.We once again welcomed Messi in the Circle, because he wishes for name change and Visitor Dirtimak name him “Ice Man” because he like to splash ice on Hashers. So Ice Water got a friend now and his name is “Ice Man”!Today surprise nominated by Peach Melba that tomorrow is Super Teen’s 16th birthday, so we all sing “Happy Birthday” to her.Announcement for this year’s joint run: it seems Saigon Hash has started spreading the news to their Hashers and many have signed up for the event and they all eager to do our joint run together. Whatever the trail is like, on the 19th March, everyone must gather at Hon Ru Ri because we can’t pick up everyone in different places since we won’t have the time.Announcement for the Tet run 29th January: SamSon will leave to Ha Noi and will be absent for 2 weeks and Basil too will be absent on Tet and we need someone to keep the Hash running, even with less people and live hares on a Local Trail. We have volunteer to help on the 29th January, Suction Cup and many others will keep the Hash running.No announcement for next week’s run yet, but it could be a local trail because buses are difficult to find during the Tet holiday period.​STOP PRESS: Confirmation now received that Flying Finn and Skipper will set a new trail for next Sunday (22 January) on Small Mountain, from Jesus statue hill (more correctly known as Mount Thao Phung) to Lighthouse - they also confirm the trail is enjoyable but not difficult: definitely NO rock climbing! See NEXT RUN box for details.We’ll meet again next Sunday as usual at Hon Ru Ri, 2 pm for 2.30 pm start - in any weather!On On!​